beethoven thematic structure

7/29/2019 Beethoven Thematic Structure

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The Tyranny of the Formula in Beethoven

Author(s): Walter SchenkmanReviewed work(s):Source: College Music Symposium, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Fall, 1978), pp. 158-174Published by: College Music SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40373981 .

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FreshndHistorical pproachesoAnalysis

The TyrannyftheFormula nBeethovenWalter SchenkmanUniversityfNorthern olorado

PRESENTED ALMOST AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT in his UnCOHSCWUSeetho-ven, rnestNewman's hesis egardinghetyrannyftheformula verthemusician'smaginationffersn attractiveointofdeparture ornvesti-gation ntotheprecisenature f thatcomposer'smelodic nvention.n fact,Newmanhimselfmadesignificanttridesnthedirectionfustsuch a studywhenhecalledattention o thethree-noteising igures a constant eaturefBeethoven'smelodic anguage.But all toooftenn this tudy id theauthorallowanalytical nsightsf musicalnature o be cloudedoverby nterpreta-tions orderingn thepsychoanalytical.Nonetheless,pplied in a pragmatic ashion nd rigorouslyimited omusicalcontexts lone,Newman'spostulated heories egarding ormulasand "fingerprints"-hose tylisticharacteristicshat he claimedmightbefoundon page afterpage of a givencomposer'swriting- old promiseofyielding aluable nsightsntothevarious roblemsssociatedwith heproc-ess of musicalcreativity. t thevery east,a musicalanalysiscarriedoutalongthese ines hould erve ohighlightertain tylisticeatureshatmayhitherto ave beencompletelygnored, rsimply akenforgrantedwithoutrecognitionf their ull mport.And while nalysis fthis ort an hardly eexpected odefine nce and for ll theexactdividinginebetween hecom-poser's onscious ntent nd subconsciousor unconscious) esponsen deal-ingwitha particular etofcircumstances,t maysurely ontributeo theelucidation f thegray rea that urrounds hat ine.For one thing,Newman'sthesis erves o underline he factthat thecomposer s by no means a completely ree gent.Even themost radicalcreative enius, ike Beethoven imself,s boundto accept and respect er-tain conventions f histimewhilerejectingthers. ut Newman's dea sug-gests, oo,thatthemysterious orkingsf thecomposer'smind tselfmposestillfurtherestrictionsverand above those onferredyhisenvironment.Like the aboratorynimal who comesto display preferenceor ne path


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THE TYRANNY OF THE FORMULA IN BEETHOVEN 159over nothernfindingiswayoutof maze,so toodoes thecomposerrriveat solutions hat mply reliance n onegivenresponse veranynumber fother ossibilitieshatmightie open.Perhapsthesepoints re best llustrated yreference o a concrete x-ample.Forinstance,t is reasonable o assumethat composer f theClas-sicalperiod-Beethoven s well as another-wouldbe inclined, yvirtue fhistrainingnd conditioning,o follow he tonicharmonywiththatofthedominant. n like fashionwould he be proneto resolve he dominanthar-monybya return o the tonic.The question henarises:what effect ouldthisroutine,lmost utomatic, esponse ave on hisfaculties fmelodic n-vention? y limiting imselfo tonic-dominantarmonic hoices n the firstplace (as wouldcertainly e thecase here n a largenumber finstances),thecomposermust ertainly peratewithin definite rame freferencehatplaces imits n hisfreedomf maginationnmatters ertainingomelodyaswell as inother irections.n fact,t is the mannernwhichhecopeswiththese imitations-he manner n whichhe maneuverswithin hesmallareaoffree hoiceremaining-hat will determine he stylehe exhibits o theworld.Beethovenxemplifieshisproblem eautifully hen, na work ike theFifteen ariationsndFugue, p. 35,he openshiscomposition y stating hebassofhis theme-to-beirstfall in isolation. ust s inthe inale ftheEroicaSymphonyorwhichthe Variationserved s sketch,t is onlyafterhe has ex-ploredvarious lternatives iththe additionofdifferentounterpointshathefinally iscloses hemelodic dea ofthe theme roper.Ofcourse,nactualfacthe had conceived nd used the samemelody omeyears arlier n hisPrometheusalletmusic.But in its effect erenevertheless,t appearsalmostas though hecomposerhimselfweresearching orthe ideal melodywithwhich omatch he nitial nspirationuggested ythe dea in the bass.Now, the openingbars of the bass outline mplyprecisely hosehar-monicprogressionsnderdiscussion, amely, -V-V-I;and the solution hecomposerwill achievein constructingn appropriatemelodiccounterpartmust hereforeakeon an added significanceor hepurposes f ourpresentinquiry.t is worthyfnote n passing, oo,thatevenprior odisclosure fthe VariationshemeproperBeethovenctually nticipates heproblem's i-nal resolutionn several fthefragmentaryontrapuntallementsnjectedalongtheway.But t s with he mergencefthetheme tself hathe realizesthemost ogicaland conciseorderingf those lements.ndeed, tmight earguedthatthisparticular ormulationf the tonic-dominantelationshipconstitutesne ofBeethoven's haracteristicolutions o a problemofthisnatureand epitomizeshis typicalmelodicresponse-whether onsciousorotherwise-o a predeterminedarmonic nvironment.The principles nderlyinghe constructionf a theme uchas this reworthy f closer crutiny eforegoingon to examinehow they ppear to


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1 0 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUMhave influenced hecomposer's hought rom irst o lastand, indeed,per-meateevery spectof his art:

Ex. 1. Beethoven: Fifteen ariationsndFugue,Op. 35.Main themedea andfragmentsrom recedingounterpoints.

I ~V V I I V I


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THE TYRANNY OF THE FORMULA IN BEETHOVEN 161Another rominenteature ftheVariationsheme elates o thearea ofexpansionllowed hemelodicphrase s itunfolds:ngeneral,he ontours fthemelodyrekeptwithin oundsdefined ythe nterval f fourth.n fact,onemight enture broadgeneralizationhatwhileBaroquemelody ppearsto be conceived argelywithin he frameworkf thehexachord, eethoven'stypical ine unfoldsmore ikelywithin he confines f the tetrachord. necouldeven advancetheclaim that t s thetetrachordhat omprises eetho-ven's deal compositional uildingblock.And while theBaroque composerstreatedhehexachords a fixedntitynrelation o an established ey enter,Beethoven as more reedomf ction t hisdisposal nthathecanavailhim-self f nyandall of hevarious etrachordso beconstructedlongthediffer-entdegrees f he cale.The importancefthetetrachords a constructiveevice nBeethoven'sartmanifeststselfna varietyfways.For the akeof onveniencenanalysisonemight istinguishwomaincategoriesn itsusage:onemight istinguishcompletendincompleteetrachords.n thefirstategoryne wouldconsiderthose melodic formulaswhichcompriseall ofthediatonic oneswithin he ntervalofthe ourth, hetherrrangednascendingrdescendingrder. ere, too, itwill beseen ater n that heformulamay asilybeextended o nclude ontrapuntal

combinationswithtetrachords roceeding n reversedirections: n otherwords, n ascending ersionmaybe combinedwith descendingne,or viceversa.The nextcategoryfpossibilities ould includeall thosevariants- iketheprototypeigurefExample 1 itself-which mploy n admixturef tep ndskip, herebyliminatingneofthe ourmembersfthe riginaletrachord.he choiceinthis nstance s to which onewillbe omitted s influenced othbythedi-rection f the melodic ine and bythedegreeof thescale on which t is tocommence; nd,ofcourse,whatever hetoneomitted,here tillremains hesharp ontrastetween onjunct nddisjunctmotion eferredoearlier.A se-riesofhypotheticalersions f the ncomplete etrachord,tarting ith ndincludingheprototypeigure, ight e illustrateds follows:

Ex.2. Variantserivedromncompleteetrachordigure.AP " .. II ". ii w n IIA " .. o IIII o ". " ii1| " n[IQ o ^j IIReturningoa considerationftheprototypelone,one is immediatelystruckythe nsistence ithwhich t assertstselfs a permanentixturef hemelodic tyle hroughouteethoven'somposition.here can be little oubtthat his articularonstruction usthave helda peculiar ascinationverhisimagination,or e falls ackon tsusepractically heneverhere s a questionofhaving odevise melodic tructureverthetypical onic-dominantro-


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1 2 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUMgression. videnceof tsconstant sage s everywheret hand and one needhardlyookpastthepianosonatas lone to findmore han mplematerial oillustrate hepoint.In fact,ustbecauseofthewealth fmaterial vailable nthis onnectionitmight e advantageous onarrow ownthe reaof earch venfurther.orinstance, ywayof ntroductionhe nvestigation ight e limited,nitiallyatleast, o a briefurveyfpertinent atter rom he o-called econd ubjectsalone:and these,nturn,willbe culledfrom irstnd lastmovementsnly, fthe onatas panning hevarious eriods fthe omposer'sreativectivity.The second heme ftheAllegro ovement f n early onata ike hatoftheAMajor,Op. 2,No. 2,may erve s a firstaseinpoint.Here the omposerisconcerned rimarily ithmoving romonic o dominantwithoutoundingthecirclebywayofreturn.nstead, ariousmodulationsre effectednd theinitialphrase s propelled o its climacticpeak through rising eries fse-quences.But the oreof hemelodic hape, houghnlargedwith he nsertionof uspensioniguresnd other ecorativeones,tillharks irectlyack tothebasic ine that he omposer ormulated-erhapswith somewhat iner con-omyofmaterial-nthe Variationsheme.Ex. 3. Beethoven:onata, p.2,No.2.

Excerptrom irst ovement,econdheme.yiijrfiyn r r ff^^ifOr onemightook t the econd ubject rom hePathetique,ikewise at-ingfrom hecomposer'sarlyperiod, o seethe ameunderlying elodic on-cept noperation. ere one notes restatementfthe dea featuringhe kipofa thirdbeforetsresolutiono the eadingtone;and the return rom hedominantharmonyo thetonic s embellishedo covermoreground han sthecasewithin hesimpler utlines ftheprototypemelody f the Variations.For therest,heoverallmelodic utline s extendedn tsbreadth nd assumesa six-fourhape by nclusion fthe ntroductoryick-up igureeadingfromthedominant egree.Ex.4. Beethoven:onata Pathetique),p. 13.Excerptrom irst ovement,econdheme.Turning o theworks rom he so-calledmiddleperiod, ne could citethemes rom uchcompositionss theGMajorSonata, p. 31,No. 1,or the"Appassionata,"p. 57. Unlike theexamplefrom hePathetique,he secondtheme f the GMajor s distinctiven its Schubertian ing- feature hat sperhaps scribable s muchas anything lse to the ight-heartedance-like


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THE TYRANNY OF THE FORMULA IN BEETHOVEN 163quality ftherepeated hordalfiguref ts ccompaniment. utmelodically,atleast, closerelationshipxists etweenhis heme nd that f hePathetiquebothwith egard o overall utlinethe upward kip f sixth rom hedomi-nanttone s featured ere, oo),and therepetitionf motif hat takesplacewithin he nitialphrase.The characteristicmphasis n themediant-high-lighted y yncopationnthis articularnstance- ssucceeded ya resolutionparallelinghatofthe Variationsheme.On theotherhand,thereturn f thedominant o thetonic hatfollows eaturesn embellished ersion fthe cor-respondingdeafrom hat ame theme.

Ex.5. Beethoven:onata, p.31,No.1.Excerptromirst ovement,econdheme.

The familiarmelody fthe"Appassionato,"econd heme xhibits differ-ent enor ltogethern tsgravityndportentousness; ut t snoteworthyhatnotonly hecrest fthemelodic ineshouldoutline he ameshapeas thatofthe Variationsune,but thecharacteristickipofa thirdncombinationwithstepwise escent s also used here t differentitch evelstomoldthe entirelength f he ine.Ex. 6. Beethoven:onataAppassionata),p.57.Firstmovement,econd heme.

Moving nto the aterworks,here sstillno dearth f xamples eaturingsimilaritiesf constructiono ourprototypedea. The second heme fthe *-nale f theLebewohlonata, p. 81a,comestomind.One mightmention,oo,therelationshipetween hefigures usedhere nd itsdiminished eflectionthat ies concealedwithin heroot-positionriad hapeof theopening tate-ment f he amemovement. erhaps, iven heprevailing armonic rienta-tion, nalysis hould imply ccepta relationshipf this ort s an everydayoccurrence ithout ttemptingoread a hidden ignificancento t. On theother and, herelationship aywellhold a specificignificanceor he wareperformerhomight hoose o deliver hemainthemedea in a slightlyif-ferent annerhan therwise.hepassagewouldnotbeslurredver arelesslybut wouldrather e articulatednsuchwise s togivedue prominenceo themediant oneG on the econd ighth-noteeat.Ex. 7. Beethoven:onata, p.81aExcerptsromirstnd econdhemesf he inale.


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1 4 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUMThe incorporationf the motive nder onsideration ithin heoutlineofthecomplete riad, s is to be noted n theopening heme f theOp. 81afinale,s hardlyunusualand should comeas no surprise.t simply eflectsfurtherxtension f the samechordalframe f referencehatdominates omuch of thecomposer'smelodicthinking. n example n illustrationies athand nthe econd heme fthe arlyCMajor onata, p. 2,No. 3,firstmove-ment;or,fromheopposite nd of thecomposer'sareer, nemight eferothethemefrom he A legromovement f the ast Sonatan C Minor, p. 111.The distancefrom he rather rite xpressionf theformero theprofoundeloquenceofthe attermaybe great,ndeed;butit is still hesamemelodiclanguage hat sbeing poken nd it s the ontrast etweenkip ndstepwisemotion hat emains hekeystonef heparticulardiombeingused. Thesec-ond idea of thefinaleof the C-SharpMinorSonata- he "Moonlight''-comes tomind, too,in connectionwith theOp. Ill example).Ex. 8. Beethoven: onata,Op. 2,No. 3,andOp. 111.Comparisonf econdhemes.

The precedingapsulereview f econd hemesmerelyouches pononelimited spectofthewholeproblem.Asthe areaof nvestigationroadens oinclude hemes ther hanustsecondary-nd material romlowmovementsas well as fast- nequickly ecomes wareofan evenwiderfield fpossibili-ties.An mportantonsiderationere, erhaps,s thefact hatwhereas broadexpanseof ine seems o dominatenthe constructionf somanyof the sec-ondary deas,theprimaryheme tructuresoftheAllegromovementsspe-cially)often end, n thecontrary,o be built round horter, orefragmen-tarymotives.n anycase,a closeobservation f thevariants ftheprototypefigureo be foundwithin heseprimary roups houldyield mportantluesconcerningheprecise ature fBeethoven'sompositionalechniques.For nstance,ntheAllegrof hevery irstonatanF Minor he haracter-isticfigures turned nside uttoreaffirmhe tonic hordratherhandepartfromt. Astheupward hrustftherocket igurettains hemediant, he n-suing ripletixteenths erelymbellish heresolution o thetonicbywayofthe eading one atherhan heotherway round s in ourprevious xamples.Theresulting odificationf he riginal iguresreduced o ts implestermsinthe keleton utline ccompanyinghe iteral uotebelow cf.Ex. 9).Now,those nalystswhoattempto show hecloserelationshipshat recultivated ythecomposernthe nterest fa greater nity etween hevar-ious deas of givenmovement,r evenbetweenmovements,ill osenotimeinpointing utthatthetriplet igureikewise orms hebasisfor heclosingtheme ftheexpositionfthis ame movement. r theymaygoeven furtherandproclaim elationshipso exist etween his igurend theopening heme


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THE TYRANNY OF THE FORMULA IN BEETHOVEN 165ofthe econdmovement,rbetween hesamefigurend various therdeasfrom oth econd nd thirdmovements.The existencefthesebondscannotbe denied,butperhaps heir ignifi-cance could be argued.Somepossible hematic inks requotedbelowfromthevariousmovementsf heSonata nquestion ndthey re ikewise educedto basic outlines hat houldclarifyhepossibleunderlyingnfluence fourprototype igure. he decision s to whether he relation s consciouslyn-tended, rmerely epresentsnothermanifestationf hedominance ver hecomposer'smaginationf heprototypeor tsvariants),sa fine ne at best.

Ex.9. Beethoven:onata, p.2,No.1.Excerptsf hematicdeas romirst,econd,ndthirdmovements.lstMvt. 2ndMvt. 3rdMvt.

ifA similar xample ftheproblems neencountersnanalysis fthis ypemaybe drawn rom heopeningmovementftheC Minoronata, p. 10,No.1. The relationshipftheopeningmotive o theprototypes patently leareventhoughherange f heoctave s exceeded nd the haracteristicntervalof third ecomes hat f tenth. he initialphrase fthe econd hememaylikewise e related o a slightlyifferentersion f thearchetypal igure,histime nvolvingn inversionfsorts hat eadsupfrom hemediant o tonicratherhan nthedownward irectionmore ypical fourmodel.Butperhapsitwouldbestretchingpoint, omewhat,opresumenintendedinkbetweenthese womotivesnthebasisof n indirect inshipuch s this.On theotherhand,onemightmaintain hat herepeated se of theap-poggiaturaigurenmany f hemotivicdeasdevelopedwithin he xpositionofthismovement oes constitute conscious ttempt n thepartofthecom-poser o nfuse sense funityntohis work.But tcouldalsosignify othingfurtherhan spontaneouseaction nhispart nfreelyvailinghimself f nacceptedmannerismftheday.Ex. 10. Beethoven:onata, p. 10,No.1.Comparisonf irstnd econdhemesromirst ovement.

ylii.if^[[|irnJrirriryir;i'>nrr * JiJ-pnnrTurning othe aterworks, revealinghematicomparisonmaybe citedin the case ofthe astSonata,Op. 111. t almost eems s ifthecomposersactivelyearching erefornew methods oexploit ifelongld materials. hevery irst otive f heMaestosontroductionoldly roclaimshe ssential ut-


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1 6 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUMline of theprototype igure,ut freshextures,hythms,nd harmoniesthediminishedeventhhord fthedominant) ombine o effect strangerans-formationn tsuse.Thenoveltyf he reatmentsconsistentlyaintainedsthecomposer urtherrushes side themorecustomary rrangementf hismaterialnthemain theme f heAllegrondelidestheresolutionothe ead-ingtone, herebyettinghe xtraordinarilyarringntervalf hediminishedfourthnboldrelief.One might e temptedo nterprethese roceedingss an outrightejec-tionbythecomposer f thoughtequence hathadserved imwellup untilnow. One might peculate hatonlynow, t theend ofa longcareer, id hesucceed nescaping tyrannyftheformula ydestroyingheformulatself.Buton the otherhand a contraryrgumentouldbe developedwith qualefficacy:e was so boundbytheformula hateven n this astdesperate t-tempt odestroythecouldnotescape t!Ex.11. Beethoven:onata, p. 111. irstmovementhemes.^ Maestoso


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THE TYRANNY OF THE FORMULA IN BEETHOVEN 167Asfurtherllustrationf he inks hatmayoccurbetween ifferentorksdatingfromwidely ifferenteriods, nemight race heconstant eappear-ance of figureike hatnoted nconnection ith hethemes rom hePathe-tiquend the GMajorSonata uotedin Examples4 and 5, respectively.hisfigure,escribingfull ix-fourutline efore eachinghe eading one, eemstohave attracted urcomposer's ancy arly n life nd remainedwithhimthroughoutis career. o mention uta few xamples: n earlyworkikethelittle onatinan GMinor, p. 49,No. 1,openswith tsuse. t serves s a transi-tional dea inthe lowmovementftheOp. 2,No. 2; it rounds ff melodicline n the ntroductoryection ftheLebewohl;nd finally,t serves o crownthe nitialphraseof theAriettaheme n the inale fOp. 111.Actually, hemaintheme f theAdagio fOp. 2,No. 1,quoted nExample9,has its deri-vationntheroots f his ery ame dea,too.

Ex.13. Beethoven:onatas, p.49,No.1 Op.2,No.2;Op.81a;andOp. 111.Thematicxcerpts.

One last featureo be remarked poninconnectionwiththeprototypefigures its extreme lexibilityn thepurposestmayserve. t mayfunctionequallywell nthe nitial haping, r ntheconcluding apering f melodicline; tmaydoserviceustaseffectivelynmattersffashioning textures intheproblemsnvolvedndevising patternffiguration.onsider, or xam-ple,thefollowing:hefirstllustrationcf.Example14below)referso an ideadevelopednthe inale f theOp. 7 Sonata; thesecond hows hepracticalityofthefigurenmodeling variation ver heperennial-V connectionfromthe first ariationof theOp. 26 Sonata set); the third nd fourthxamplesshow usage n theconclusion fa broad melodic ine from he econd, ndArioso, ovementsf heSonatas,Op. 81a,andOp. 110, espectively);henextquotation howshow the samefigurehat ervesn theAriosomelody fOp.110 s incorporatedntothe texture ythe haping fthe ine ofthe counter-subject n the ucceeding ugue;astly, heexamplesfrom heopeningmove-ment ftheSonata,Op. 81a andfinale fOp. 78 are ncluded oillustrateheusesof hefigurendevising ecorative assagework.


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1 8 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUMEx. 14. Beethoven: onatas, a) Op. 7; (b) Op. 26; (c) Op. 81a; (d ande) Op. 110; )Op. 81a; (g) Op. 78.Manifestationsfthe nfluencef theprototypedea.

^. U I JB~~~"B^^f^ ^111 II V If wJ* I P. It ^ ^^^11 I II) ff\W\v a m I | I m r I _^^H II I /x


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THE TYRANNY OF THE FORMULA IN BEETHOVEN 169But the ame deaof he etrachord aybe used ustaseffectivelynform-ingtheharmonic asesformodulatoryequences hatwill move wayfromgiven onality. he examplesbelow,from irstmovementxpositionsf stillthe ame CMinoronata, p. 10,No. 1 and oftheD Major onata, p. 28,maybe understoodreciselynthis ight.

Ex.16. Beethoven:onatas, p. 10,No.1, ndOp.28.Comparisonf deas.jpj, a j,t) i j j^TJ^:] j ietc_ i i i -

The samegeneral rinciples nderlie hebustling hirty-secondoteac-tivityhat ormshe entralC" sectiondeaof heRondoinale romhe onatainBfiatMajor, p. 22.Here,too, mirroreflectionf orts s tobeobserved nthecontrapuntal ombinations ffectedetween scending nd descendingforms f hetetrachord.Ex.17.Beethoven:onata, p.22. deafrominale.

Q'1'*f|r t r r r 'lit rU-j^r'pOccasionally nefindsn elaborated ersion fthebasicfigure,djustedto fit metricalettingther handuple.The example stakenfrom move-

ment n6/8meter.Ex.18. Beethoven:onata, p.7.Transitionalassage,irstMovement.

Besides eekingutorconfirmingewtonalities,hetetrachorddeamayinspire assages hatgo nowheren particular, utsimply mpart senseofharmonictabilitynd repose s,for xample, ntheclosing ection f an ex-position r na coda. The examples elow,from he"Moonlight"inalend thefirstmovementf he"Appassionata,"xemplifyuch purpose.


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1 0 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUMEx.19. Beethoven:onatas, p.27,No.2andOp.57.Closinghemes.

Again, he etrachord ay erve s constructiveevice nbuilding pandextendinghe materialwithin developmentection. he efficacyf thede-vice remains naffecteds itguides ither heunfoldingfa melodic ine nthe opranoEx. 20. Beethoven: onatas,Op. 109andOp. 110.Firstmovementevelopmentections.

j'"'jjl^p 'TiTT^ j^mtJPKb3 T* )? r* l T i T* fTT T p i f* sk m **o

ortheflow fharmonic rogressionseterminedyan outlinenthebass.Ex. 21. Beethoven: onata Waldstein),p. 53.Firstmovementevelopmentection.

i IH '__ iThe usesofthe idea in the formulationfrunning assagefigurationshouldnotbe ignoredither. ere tmay ervemost ffectivelynthe onstruc-

tionof specifichematicdea as wellas ingiving hapetopassagework f amoregeneralnature. he fugue ubject rom heHammerklavierrtheopeningpassages fthe"Appassionato,"inalemaybe referredo n this onnection.On the other and,theres no rulethat ays hatprimarymotiveshem-selvesmaynotbe basedon this ame tetrachordaloncept. hemaintheme ftheD Minor onata, p. 31,No. 2, provides n ideal exampleof ust suchausagewith ts ightlylurredighth-noteersion fthedescendinginepittedagainst heunadorned scending assprogression.Ex.22. Beethoven:onata, p.31,No. 2.

Maintheme,irst ovement.* *r r f r r *


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THE TYRANNYOF THE FORMULAINBEETHOVEN 1 1Finally,as if n summaryof all thesepossibleuses of the tetrachord igure,one may turnto the scoreof the Presto rom heD major onata,Op. 10,No. 3,where the initial four-notemotive assumes proportionsof a monothematiccharacter- in a senseboth lookingbackwards to the example ofFrescobaldi'sRicercarind anticipating Berlioz' idee ixe-so persistently oes it controltheconstruction fthefirstmovement deas frombeginningto end: thefigure p-pearswithinfirst nd second themegroups as well as in closing themesandcoda; it s used notonly n augmentationbut indiminutionas well, in melodiccontexts and in harmonic underpinnings, nd in parallel chordal combina-tionsas well as in contrary-motion ontrapuntal settings.Of course t would be far-fetchedo assertthat Beethovenwas respondingto unconsciousimpulses n organizinghis materialshere n theparticularfash-ion that he did. On the otherhand, the constant recourse to the tetrachordformulaunder totallyunrelatedcircumstances nd withinthecontextof com-pletelydifferentompositionscertainlybespeaks a powerful nfluence verhiscreative magination,to saythe least.It would be redundant at thispoint to attemptan exhaustive listingofinstances nwhichBeethoven has recourse othosefigures rom he ncompletetetrachord other than the prototype)hypothesizedin our Example 2. Two

pertinent xamples that come to mind in this connection mustsuffice o givesome idea of their ignificance.The first, erivedfrom hefinale f the same D MajorSonataunder discus-sion ust now, exemplifies treatment n which the whole movement centersaround thisone germinal dea - set offnsplendidisolationbythesurroundingsilences.And ofcourse,combinationof the motive with its nversionwill alsobe noted in the quotation below. (Incorporationof the same motive in thissame combinationcould be cited in numerous other nstances: in the secondtheme dea of thefinale fOp. 7 and in thecontrastingperiod of the Variationmovementtheme ofOp. 26, to mention but two. This should suffice o dis-courage those analystswho presumeto find a unifying igurehere, too, thatextendsto ideas developed in the othermovements of the D Major Sonataaswell.)Ex. 23. Beethoven: onata,Op. 10,No. 3.Themefrom inale. mm

The second example to whichreferencewill be made comes from hepenofa composer otherthan Beethoven: namely,Diabelli. Several points are ofsignificancehere. First of all, thisexample will show that Beethoven himselfhad no exclusivehold on thisparticularproperty. econdly, itwill emphasizehis abiding attractionto models that exploit the possibilities nherent n its


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1 2 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUMuses.Andfinally,nemight eehere challenge, gain,for hecomposer obreak wayfromhe ifelongssumptionsnderwhichhenormallyperated.The reference,fcourse,s to theDiabelli Waltz hatgaveBeethovenhetheme orhis monumentaletofThirtythreeariations.he section lludedtois thatwhichdevelops hesequences in bothhalvesof thetheme)basedonexactly he amefigureswasquoted nExample23above.Ananalysis f hemanner n whichBeethoven aces- r evades- the stereotypeigurewithineach one ofhis Variationshouldprovide n interestingtudy,ndeed,andmightwell serve s a worthwhileoint fdepartureor heperformerssayingthatwork.Asexample, wo trikingevasions" f hefigurere ncluded elowfromhe Variationsogether ith tsoriginal ettingnDiabelli's Theme.

Ex. 24. Beethoven: hirtythreeariationson ThemefDiabelli.Sequencesromnnerortionsf heme,andvariationsV andXX.

^ iJJ ID 'ii*L_LJ

y j H A ===4== =^r Iff*ff=.^LJlP' *^JIPt W4--**Asoneapproaches he nd of review evoted otypical igurationshatwerefound o recur ime nd again nBeethoven's ork ne cannot void thequestionwhether,nfact,he omposer idallowthese ormulasoexert truetyrannyverhis magination,rratherwhether e was able- more ften hannot-toexerthis ndependence rom ucha tyranny.ne might e led tocon-cludewithNewman,on thebasisoftheevidencepresented,hatBeethovenrepresentsheperfectxampleof composer


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THE TYRANNY OF THE FORMULA IN BEETHOVEN 173. . who an most learlyeseen t almostvery oint obeobeyingvoice fwhich ewasunconscious,utwhoseommands eremperative.and of composernwhosework... it s stonishingowhat small umberf ormulae- elodic,hythmic,ndso on- his pparentlyo varied rocedureanbe reduced.

Butone could ustaseasily onclude hat hewealth fhis maginationntreatingustthese ormulae- he ontinuallyreshariationwithwhichheim-buesthem-negates hepossibilityhathe waswholly nconsciousnfollowingthemysteriousoicethatNewmanpostulates. nd ndeed,perhaps heuse ofthe formula or hecomposer onstitutesittlemorethan does an idiomaticusageofwords rspecial hoiceof mageryor hewriterrpoet.One would hardlyexpecta Shakespeareor a Milton to expresshisthoughtsna language ther hanEnglish- r toexpresshemnthe anguageof KeatsorShelley-ust norder oavoida repetitionf the amephrase rimageryhe econd ime round ntreating given houghtrtopic. nsimilarfashionne wouldhardly opeforBeethoven o write ikeBach oneday,andStravinskyhenext. n fact, nemight ave seriousmisgivingsbout the om-poserwhodidso, s well as grave oubts boutthe ntegrityndvalidityfhislanguage.Perhapsone shouldacceptthefactwithout urtheruestion, hen, hattheconsistencyfany anguage-musical r otherwise-ependsuponthe re-liabilityndreusabilityf certain umber ftried nd truepatterns. o thepatternsfa generalnaturebequeathedbythe times nwhichhe lives, hewriter rcomposerddshisownpeculiar efinementsndpersonaldiosyncra-sies.As wasnoted t theoutset fthispaper, he tonic-dominantelationshipcomprisedne such nheritedattern or eethoven nd it was to the ommonharmonicanguagebased thereonhathe was to add therefinementsndpe-culiaritiesf personalmelodic diom.

Insum, hedebate s towhether heformula onstitutestyrannyverhemusician'smagination, tyranny ithinismusical anguage, r even a tyr-anny t all ... probablynvolvesittlemore han emantic uibbling ndwillnotbe resolved ere.For thepresentnvestigationheprimarynterestentersaround hefact f the formulatself ather han around ny dlespeculationconcerningtspossible riginswithin hedarkrecesses f a troubled syche.And twas to the nd offurtheringurknowledgeoncerningowtheformulamighterventheorganizationf composer'smusical houghthat hepres-ent nquirywas directed.Starting ith n idealizedversion fa Beethovenettingfthecommonharmonic-V progressionypothesizedntheThemeoftheEroicaVariations,the uses oftheformula erived herefrom eretraced ntheir ariousmani-festationshroughouthePiano Sonatasof he arly,middle, nd lateperiods.


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174 COLLEGE MUSIC SYMPOSIUMItwassuggested,oo, hat he full ine ofthetetrachordikewise lays n im-portant ole nBeethoven'sonstructiverocessesnd thatrolewassubjectedtosimilar eview. ertain ther elated igures erebrieflyouched pon.Thoughthematerial eviewedwas derived xclusivelyromhepiano it-erature,tmaybe assertedwith onfidencehat heresults ouldnotvary ig-nificantlyere heSymphoniesrQuartets o havebeen usedas theprimarysource nstead.For one isdealingherenot with n isolatedphenomenon e-terminedymedium, utratherwith phenomenonhat ffectsndcontrolsthevery ssence fa totalstyle. ust s the formulamaybe found nywhereandeverywhereithin certain exture-t anypoint longthewayofdevel-opmentwithin givenphrase, eriod, revenwholemovement- ithin astcompositionsnd slow;happy ndsad- so toowill theformula urfacenthefulfillmentf ts missionwherevernelooks,whethernSymphony,ong,orSonata.An analytical tudy f thesortust completeddoesnot holdforth hepromise fimmediatehard and fast onclusions. n thecontrary,t servessooner o introduce n element fskepticismoncerninghevalidity f thatanalysiswhichdoes offeruch conclusions. uton theotherhand, nalysis fthetype xpoundedhere hould dd a newdimensiono ourfamiliarityith-and understandingf- Beethoven's ompositional roceduresn general. tmaywell ntroduce n element fconsciouswareness, oo,regardingertainmatters hichpreviouslyadbeenonlyvaguely omprehendedrbarely ec-ognized.The performer,specially,mayfindhere practicalkey n dealingwithmany thornyroblem hatdefies asy olution.Finally, houghtmaybepossible oreducemuchofBeethoven'sso var-ied procedure" odry bstraction r mechanical ormula s was seenduringthecourse fthepresent aper, he piritualntensityfthemaster'shoughtandexpressionranscendsven hemost iabolically rilliantormulationhatcan be devisedbythe nalyticalmind n theeffortoprobethe nnermoste-crets f that xpression. ndthemagicof his touchwillforeverreclude hepossibilityf even hisuse ofthe mostblatantformula rom verbeing per-ceivedas such- ntheactual flesh nd blood of themusic tself- ythe ntel-ligent nd sympatheticistenerorwhom hatmusicwas intendedn thefirstplace.

beethoven thematic structure

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